Major League Baseball saw more than just the Chicago Cubs' season end on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets. It also signaled the end of pitcher Dan Haren's career, who announced his retirement early Thursday morning.
Here is how he told the baseball world:
Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune caught a glimpse of Haren walking out of Wrigley Field for the last time:
The 35-year-old played in 13 professional seasons with eight different teams before he finally called it quits. Fans and peers alike took to Twitter to congratulate Haren on a successful career, ...

"I don't believe in damn curses. Wake up the damn Bambino and have me face him. Maybe I'll drill him in the ass." - Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox, 2001
"Mystique and Aura" were appearing nightly in the Bronx during the 2001 World Series, but they missed the flight to Arizona.
The "Curse of the Bambino" enveloped the Boston Red Sox for 86 years until Boston was able to add Curt Schilling to a rotation that included Pedro Martinez. The Bambino has missed all three Red Sox duck boat parades since 2004.
The Chicago White Sox were damned to eternal baseball purgatory because of the ...

Nobody likes to lose, and getting swept, as the Chicago Cubs were by the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series, only makes losing sting that much more. While feelings of disappointment are to be expected, there shouldn't be a Cubs fan moping around the streets of Chicago.
With the core of the team under control for the foreseeable future, a deep farm system and ownership that is committed to bringing a championship back to the North Side, few teams have as bright a future as the Cubs do.
The pain of falling short in 2015 is only going to make ...

Game 4 of the NLCS could be the last chance for the upstart Chicago Cubs and manager Joe Maddon.
But there is hope, at least for this game, and it has to do with the offense.
With some shuffling and adjustments, most of which Maddon has already made, here are ways that the Cubs can see a Game 5. (And it doesn't involve the "Back to the Future II" prophecy or Henry Rowengartner.)
For one, which Maddon has already done, he should adjust his lineup to face Mets lefty Steven Matz.
According to Carrie Muskat of MLB.com, Maddon moved the right-handed Jorge Soler up to ...

Wrigley Field was a haunted house for the Chicago Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets again played the ghoul.
Murphy hit a home run for the fifth straight postseason game, and he scored another run as the Mets jumped out to a 3-0 NLCS lead over the Cubs on Tuesday night. A man who would not have been recognized by some casual baseball fans a couple of weeks ago is now generating headlines literally every time that he takes the field. The Los Angeles Dodgers couldn't cool Murphy down. Now ...

CHICAGO — A 17-year-old Kyle Schwarber stood straight across from the man-child who would eventually end his football career. Schwarber, who was recruited by a slew of Division I football programs, made the fruitful decision to pursue baseball. Still, it was Schwarber’s intent to end his football career of his own accord—presumably at the Ohio state high school football championships.
That would not happen.
Schwarber, a senior middle linebacker for Middletown High School, was a gifted prep athlete. He was all-state in football and baseball. Had he grown more than six feet, Schwarber, now 22, might be a redshirt senior at a ...

The Chicago Cubs' official Twitter account doesn’t mess around.During the team's Game 2 showdown with the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series on Sunday night, one fan took a shot in the dark and requested a Kyle Schwarber jersey:This came after the fan had already hounded the team for a freebie. The Cubs offered some encouragement with a subtle response:When the fan responded that he can’t direct-message the account, the Cubs dropped the hammer:Boom. No chill indeed:[h/t Complex Sports]Read more Chicago Cubs news on BleacherReport.com

Matt Harvey had made one start in the postseason in his short career in the majors, and that was earlier this season. Jon Lester had started 13 games and carried a 2.66 postseason ERA over his long tenure with the Red Sox, Athletics and Cubs.
But in Game 1 at Citi Field, Harvey looked like the veteran superstar against the Cubs' talented bats, going 7.2 innings and only allowing four hits and two runs as the Mets took the early series lead with a 4-2 win.
It was a typical performance from New York this season, relying on their skilled, if slightly ...

Through their first five games, the Chicago Cubs made hitting in the postseason look easy. Maybe a little too easy.
As such, a reality check like the one the Cubs were dealt in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series was coming sooner or later. But given that it was the New York Mets who dealt it, the question now becomes whether the Cubs' bats will be able to recover.
The Cubs weren't able to get much offense going against Matt Harvey in a 4-2 loss in the opener of the NLCS at Citi Field on Saturday night. He did his Dark ...

The MLB Playoffs have reached the Championship Series and the matchups in the American and National Leagues have been set.
Before we delve into the top 10 players remaining, let's set the ground rules.
First, hot streaks matter. We know that hot teams in baseball make the most noise. The same goes for players. At one point in the second half of the season, you thought Yoenis Cespedes was the MVP over Bryce Harper, right? Some players explode in the postseason and others fall down the well. Let's reward those who explode because October is all about the playoffs. For that reason, slumping players ...